Anna Faris' mom passes along restaurant tips: Don't touch the menu. And ask for water without lemon.

Anna Faris was offered the lead role on the CBS comedy "Mom" in an unusual way — not through an agent or a network executive. The show's creator, Chuck Lorre, left the script for the pilot episode on Faris' doorstep with no note attached. Faris' husband, actor Chris Pratt, found it, read it and told the actress, a new mom herself, that she needed to give it a look.

"It's completely bizarre," Faris says of the way she found what she calls her "dream job." Had she ever found anything else on her doorstep? "My cat used to leave dead birds until we put a bell on her neck."

Faris dropped by The Times recently for a live Web chat in which we talked about the show, the joys of working with co-star Allison Janney (whom she likens to an antelope ... in the best possible sense) and what her own mom thinks of the show.

Faris shares her desire for a bunch of flashback scenes to Christy's partying past ("I want to play wasted all the time!") and, as a public service, also shared a couple of her mother's tips for how to avoid germs when dining out.

Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, stars of the breakout Comedy Central series "Broad City," stopped by The Times recently to talk about their phenomenally funny show, which just completed its second season.

If you thought Season 4 of "Game of Thrones" was tough on the bruised and brooding Jon Snow — friends dead, girlfriend dead, White Walkers imminent — things are about to get worse. And for a man still recovering from an attack that included, say it with me, giants on mammoths,...

Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson just finished the second season of their insanely fun and ridiculously awesome Comedy Central series "Broad City" and what better way to celebrate than to visit the Los Angeles Times?